Dr. Forbush Thinks

 
It seems so rare these days to hear a sane Republican talk about the things Republicans used to talk about but never acted on once they were in power. Today I heard a sane Republican who is in the Primary race for the California 11th Congressional district. This is the seat currently held by the lap dog of the administration Richard Pombo. The forum was supposed to be a debate between the Republican candidates. However, since Richard Pombo was able to acquire a huge fortune in lobbyist contributions through his connections with Jack Abramoff he didn’t need to show up for the debate, and he didn’t.

I should point out that the Republicans in California’s 11th congressional district should certainly be paying attention to this race, because of the gerrymandered district it is highly unlikely that the race could be won by a Democrat. In a sense this is the election, and November is only a formality. If you go to Richard Pombo’s web site you can see for yourself the odd nature of the shape of this district. If you know something about the San Francisco Bay area you should realize that the district subtends the coastal range of mountains which would normally be a natural divide between two unrelated areas. The district includes a large portion of the agricultural San Joaquin valley, blue collar towns of Stockton and Manteca which would normally vote Democrat, along with the bedroom communities of Tracy and Pleasanton and Morgan Hill which would be likely to lean more Republican. Richard Pombo is a far right Republican with a history of land development that can easily ignore the Democrats and environmentalists in his district. He has consistently voted against protecting any land and is active in selling National and State Park land to developers. In order to move up in the Republican power structure in Washington he has voted for lobbyist interests and against the people’s interests, including a vote against Veterans benefits and rehabilitation for Iraqi vets returning from the war. His personal interest is in putting a road through the coastal mountain range to link San Jose to the Central Valley. Of course, he fails to mention all of the land that he has purchased along his proposed route through the mountains.

In the Republican primary Richard Pombo is running against former Rep. Paul "Pete'' McCloskey, and Tom Benigno. Tom Benigno is clearly in the race for himself. This seems like a bold statement to make, but if you’d listened to the discussion you would agree with me. When asked about Richard Pombo, he tells us how corrupt he is, but when asked if he would support the Democrat or Pombo in the November election he uses the cocky politico speak of saying that won’t happen, because he is going to win the primary. Who really wants a representative in Washington who refuses to imagine that something other than his or her own plan could actually happen? Isn’t that the problem we have in Washington right now? How could this be a change?

Pete McCloskey is certainly the type of Republican that would benefit his district and Americans in general in Washington DC. He makes no bones about the difficulty of running a campaign against a well funded and well back candidate. He is honest about the uphill battle that he is fighting. When asked the difficult question about the possibility of Pombo winning the primary, he tells us that he would back the Democrat over Pombo. That is how corrupt Richard Pombo is. Hopefully Pete McClosky will get the backing and support he needs, but June 6th is not far off. Perhaps instead of money he needs media attention.

From my point of view as a moderate I can certainly support a moderate Republican that cares about the environment and our National Parks. I can certainly support a Republican candidate that wants to put ethics back into government. I can certainly support a Republican candidate who has no problem reaching out across the aisle to make this country stronger for all Americans and not just the lobbyists who have bribed Richard Pombo and the current leadership of the Republican Party.

Pete McCloskey is a sane Republican that has experience in leadership, and if you are voting in the Republican primary for the California 11th congressional district race on June 6, 2006 look for his name. You could do a lot worse.



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Don't forget what Stephen Colbert said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."


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